“[M]y people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” – Hosea 4:6
Sometimes, I think knowledge gets a bad rap, and especially within the Church. We’re focused on love, faith, tolerance, kindness and compassion, etcetera—and rightly so! But too often, particularly in the 21st-century American Church, knowledge has become the redheaded stepchild kicked to the corner. And that is very much not the biblical model. Take a look at what Scripture tells us:
Knowledge originates with God.[1] Knowledge was central in His creative process[2] and His creation reveals that knowledge.[3] Knowledge is linked to godliness,[4] rejection of knowledge leads to depravity,[5] and zeal for God without knowledge is fruitless.[6] Solomon was praised and rewarded for seeking knowledge,[7] Peter advised us to pursue and grow in knowledge,[8] and Jesus condemned the experts in the law for keeping others from gaining knowledge.[9] Knowledge is equated with competency to instruct one another.[10] Knowledge is part of the renewal process of the Christian.[11] Knowledge is linked to salvation.[12] Knowledge is one of the end goals of Christian maturation[13] and is essential to living a righteous life.[14] We’re also told that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Christ[15] and that we are to take aggressive action against that which attacks the knowledge of God.[16]
Kind of gives you the idea that biblical knowledge is important, doesn’t it?
Now, to be sure, the Bible also cautions against knowledge—or rather, against abuses of it. We’re told that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”[17] Paul warns of destroying weaker brothers or sisters with knowledge.[18] He also says that knowledge, without love, is of no value.[19] People—in biblical times and in modern ones—have become so consumed with knowledge that it has led them to seek it at the expense of love and faith, or to shun those who don’t have knowledge, or even to cherish a special, additional, elitist form of “knowledge” beyond what is in Scripture. As with almost everything in life, there is a balance.
Focusing on the ideal picture of knowledge, I want to hone in one passage I’ve yet to touch on. In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul writes the following:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Paul opens his letter to the church in Colossae, as he often does, by thanking God for the Colossians’ faith, fruitfulness, and love. He transitions in verse 9 to his continued prayer, asking “God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” This phrase “knowledge of his will” is a tricky one. Is Paul praying that God will give the Colossians input on whether or not to refinance their home loan, provide them with career advice, or put a blinking beacon over every “right” decision? Is that what is meant by “his will”? While God can give direction on such everyday issues, Scripture gives us a different understanding. We’re told “it is God’s will that you should be sanctified,” specifically in the context of purity.[20] We’re told it “is God’s will” that we “give thanks in all circumstances.”[21] God’s will also instructs us to do good,[22] sometimes to suffer for it,[23] and is instrumental in spreading the gospel.[24] We also see that He will equip us for doing His will[25] and that we are to pray “according to his will.”[26] One might boil down “God’s will” to this: holy living. That is, God’s will is that you “be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”[27]
It is to this knowledge that Paul is speaking in Colossians 1:9. He is praying that God would, “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” enable His people to know how to live a holy life. As is often the case, Paul’s writing builds. He goes on to give the reason for that prayer for knowledge in verse 10: “. . . that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way:” That sounds similar to what we just looked at in terms of God’s will, and we’re starting to see what I call “the circle of knowledge.” But there’s more. Note the colon at the end of the above phrase. Paul is building again, and he now moves on to four specific ways we can live a worthy life and please God.
1) By “bearing fruit in every good work.” Jesus spoke extensively about fruit, telling us that we are to bear fruit,[28] that failing to produce fruit has dire consequences,[29] that our fruits identify us,[30] and that we can’t bear fruit ourselves but only through Him.[31] And of course, Galatians 5:22-23 describes for us what that fruit looks like. Now Paul gives us one of the keys to producing that fruit.
2—I’m going out of order, hang with me—) By “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” I don’t know about you, but I need plenty of endurance and patience to get through each day. The good news, evidenced by Paul’s prayer and echoed in the old hymn, is that “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r in the precious blood of the Lamb.” Elsewhere, Paul prays for believers, that they “may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead . . .”[32] Let that sink in. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead—that defied death!!!—is available to us. How do we get that power? According to the passage in Colossians, it is tied to knowledge of God’s will. If that doesn’t make you want to crack open the Scriptures . . .
3) By “giving joyful thanks to the Father.” It should go without saying that we should live in thankfulness to God, but how often do we fail to do so? Paul reminds us that “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[33] Thankfulness for our salvation—and all that it entails—is part of living a holy life, and is tied to our understanding and knowledge. To borrow the model Paul used in his letter to the Romans, “How can they be thankful for that which they do not understand?”
4) By “growing in the knowledge of God.” I specifically went out of order to highlight again this “circle of knowledge.” Paraphrasing, Paul’s prayer tells us that knowledge of God’s will leads to holy living. And now we’re told that one of the manifestations of holy living is growing in the knowledge of God. In other words, the more you know, the more you know. The prior cautions about an excessive focus on or abuse of knowledge notwithstanding, we’ve just seen how paramount knowledge is to the Christian life. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”[34] Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[35] The Greek word is transliterated as ginóskó, meaning “to come to know, recognize, perceive.”[36] And Paul writes, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” and “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”[37] We are mistaken if we believe eternal life begins when we die. It begins when we come alive,[38] and the process of sanctification begins at that moment and continues until the day our salvation is consummated. The same is true of our knowledge of God—it is a process.
Our knowledge—our knowing—of God won’t be complete until we are with Him in glory, when we “shall know fully.” But until that day, we can continue to grow in our knowledge, knowing that it will bear fruit in our lives, and one of those fruits is more knowledge of God, which leads to more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit . . .
[1] See Proverbs 2:6
[2] See Proverbs 3:19-20
[3] See Psalm 19:1-2
[4] See Titus 1:1; II Peter 1:3
[5] See Romans 1:28
[6] See Romans 10:1-3
[7] See II Chronicles 1:11-12
[8] See II Peter 1:5-8, 3:18
[9] See Luke 11:52
[10] See Romans 15:14
[11] See Colossians 3:10
[12] See I Timothy 2:3-4; II Timothy 2:25
[13] See Ephesians 4:11-13
[14] See Philippians 1:9-11
[15] Colossians 2:2-3
[16] See II Corinthians 10:5
[17] I Corinthians 8:1
[18] See I Corinthians 8:11
[19] See I Corinthians 13:2
[20] I Thessalonians 4:3-6
[21] I Thessalonians 5:18
[22] See I Peter 2:15
[23] See I Peter 3:17, 4:19
[24] See Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10, 15:32; Hebrews 2:4
[25] See Hebrews 13:21
[26] I John 5:14
[27] I Peter 1:15-16
[28] See Matthew 3:8; John 15:16
[29] See Matthew 3:10, 7:19, John 15:2
[30] See Luke 6:43-44; John 15:8
[31] See John 15:4-5
[32] Ephesians 1:18-20
[33] Colossians 1:13-14
[34] Romans 11:33
[35] John 17:3, emphasis added
[36] Strong’s Concordance
[37] I Corinthians 13:9-10, 12
[38] See Ephesians 2:4-5
Sometimes, I think knowledge gets a bad rap, and especially within the Church. We’re focused on love, faith, tolerance, kindness and compassion, etcetera—and rightly so! But too often, particularly in the 21st-century American Church, knowledge has become the redheaded stepchild kicked to the corner. And that is very much not the biblical model. Take a look at what Scripture tells us:
Knowledge originates with God.[1] Knowledge was central in His creative process[2] and His creation reveals that knowledge.[3] Knowledge is linked to godliness,[4] rejection of knowledge leads to depravity,[5] and zeal for God without knowledge is fruitless.[6] Solomon was praised and rewarded for seeking knowledge,[7] Peter advised us to pursue and grow in knowledge,[8] and Jesus condemned the experts in the law for keeping others from gaining knowledge.[9] Knowledge is equated with competency to instruct one another.[10] Knowledge is part of the renewal process of the Christian.[11] Knowledge is linked to salvation.[12] Knowledge is one of the end goals of Christian maturation[13] and is essential to living a righteous life.[14] We’re also told that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Christ[15] and that we are to take aggressive action against that which attacks the knowledge of God.[16]
Kind of gives you the idea that biblical knowledge is important, doesn’t it?
Now, to be sure, the Bible also cautions against knowledge—or rather, against abuses of it. We’re told that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”[17] Paul warns of destroying weaker brothers or sisters with knowledge.[18] He also says that knowledge, without love, is of no value.[19] People—in biblical times and in modern ones—have become so consumed with knowledge that it has led them to seek it at the expense of love and faith, or to shun those who don’t have knowledge, or even to cherish a special, additional, elitist form of “knowledge” beyond what is in Scripture. As with almost everything in life, there is a balance.
Focusing on the ideal picture of knowledge, I want to hone in one passage I’ve yet to touch on. In Colossians 1:9-12, Paul writes the following:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Paul opens his letter to the church in Colossae, as he often does, by thanking God for the Colossians’ faith, fruitfulness, and love. He transitions in verse 9 to his continued prayer, asking “God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” This phrase “knowledge of his will” is a tricky one. Is Paul praying that God will give the Colossians input on whether or not to refinance their home loan, provide them with career advice, or put a blinking beacon over every “right” decision? Is that what is meant by “his will”? While God can give direction on such everyday issues, Scripture gives us a different understanding. We’re told “it is God’s will that you should be sanctified,” specifically in the context of purity.[20] We’re told it “is God’s will” that we “give thanks in all circumstances.”[21] God’s will also instructs us to do good,[22] sometimes to suffer for it,[23] and is instrumental in spreading the gospel.[24] We also see that He will equip us for doing His will[25] and that we are to pray “according to his will.”[26] One might boil down “God’s will” to this: holy living. That is, God’s will is that you “be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”[27]
It is to this knowledge that Paul is speaking in Colossians 1:9. He is praying that God would, “through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” enable His people to know how to live a holy life. As is often the case, Paul’s writing builds. He goes on to give the reason for that prayer for knowledge in verse 10: “. . . that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way:” That sounds similar to what we just looked at in terms of God’s will, and we’re starting to see what I call “the circle of knowledge.” But there’s more. Note the colon at the end of the above phrase. Paul is building again, and he now moves on to four specific ways we can live a worthy life and please God.
1) By “bearing fruit in every good work.” Jesus spoke extensively about fruit, telling us that we are to bear fruit,[28] that failing to produce fruit has dire consequences,[29] that our fruits identify us,[30] and that we can’t bear fruit ourselves but only through Him.[31] And of course, Galatians 5:22-23 describes for us what that fruit looks like. Now Paul gives us one of the keys to producing that fruit.
2—I’m going out of order, hang with me—) By “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” I don’t know about you, but I need plenty of endurance and patience to get through each day. The good news, evidenced by Paul’s prayer and echoed in the old hymn, is that “There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r in the precious blood of the Lamb.” Elsewhere, Paul prays for believers, that they “may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead . . .”[32] Let that sink in. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead—that defied death!!!—is available to us. How do we get that power? According to the passage in Colossians, it is tied to knowledge of God’s will. If that doesn’t make you want to crack open the Scriptures . . .
3) By “giving joyful thanks to the Father.” It should go without saying that we should live in thankfulness to God, but how often do we fail to do so? Paul reminds us that “he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[33] Thankfulness for our salvation—and all that it entails—is part of living a holy life, and is tied to our understanding and knowledge. To borrow the model Paul used in his letter to the Romans, “How can they be thankful for that which they do not understand?”
4) By “growing in the knowledge of God.” I specifically went out of order to highlight again this “circle of knowledge.” Paraphrasing, Paul’s prayer tells us that knowledge of God’s will leads to holy living. And now we’re told that one of the manifestations of holy living is growing in the knowledge of God. In other words, the more you know, the more you know. The prior cautions about an excessive focus on or abuse of knowledge notwithstanding, we’ve just seen how paramount knowledge is to the Christian life. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”[34] Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[35] The Greek word is transliterated as ginóskó, meaning “to come to know, recognize, perceive.”[36] And Paul writes, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” and “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”[37] We are mistaken if we believe eternal life begins when we die. It begins when we come alive,[38] and the process of sanctification begins at that moment and continues until the day our salvation is consummated. The same is true of our knowledge of God—it is a process.
Our knowledge—our knowing—of God won’t be complete until we are with Him in glory, when we “shall know fully.” But until that day, we can continue to grow in our knowledge, knowing that it will bear fruit in our lives, and one of those fruits is more knowledge of God, which leads to more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit, and more knowledge, and more fruit . . .
[1] See Proverbs 2:6
[2] See Proverbs 3:19-20
[3] See Psalm 19:1-2
[4] See Titus 1:1; II Peter 1:3
[5] See Romans 1:28
[6] See Romans 10:1-3
[7] See II Chronicles 1:11-12
[8] See II Peter 1:5-8, 3:18
[9] See Luke 11:52
[10] See Romans 15:14
[11] See Colossians 3:10
[12] See I Timothy 2:3-4; II Timothy 2:25
[13] See Ephesians 4:11-13
[14] See Philippians 1:9-11
[15] Colossians 2:2-3
[16] See II Corinthians 10:5
[17] I Corinthians 8:1
[18] See I Corinthians 8:11
[19] See I Corinthians 13:2
[20] I Thessalonians 4:3-6
[21] I Thessalonians 5:18
[22] See I Peter 2:15
[23] See I Peter 3:17, 4:19
[24] See Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10, 15:32; Hebrews 2:4
[25] See Hebrews 13:21
[26] I John 5:14
[27] I Peter 1:15-16
[28] See Matthew 3:8; John 15:16
[29] See Matthew 3:10, 7:19, John 15:2
[30] See Luke 6:43-44; John 15:8
[31] See John 15:4-5
[32] Ephesians 1:18-20
[33] Colossians 1:13-14
[34] Romans 11:33
[35] John 17:3, emphasis added
[36] Strong’s Concordance
[37] I Corinthians 13:9-10, 12
[38] See Ephesians 2:4-5
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